Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Friends of the Museum of Modern Art at Heide and the Heide Circle of Donors, 1998. Heide Museum of Modern Art

Like Ned Kelly, Sidney Nolan was of Irish descent, and a self-styled rebel. This work is a fiercely introspective image, signalling both the artist’s and his subject’s isolation in the face of authority — the words of the title were spoken by Kelly at his trial.